Macedonian names and makeDonski pseudo-linguistics: The case of the names Dadas and Dada.

Originally published in:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/106364




Balkan Illusion - phantasia archaica:

"...it is very interesting to note that many of the authentic ancient Macedonian words, according to their etymology and pronunciation, have a striking resemblance to the appropriate words used in the modern Macedonian language (and other so called "Slav"[sic] languages)."..."Dada. The noun "dada" in the present day Macedonian language means "older sister". The name "Dada" is present In todays' Macedonian onomasticon."

From: "Similarities between ancient Macedonian and today's' Macedonian Culture (Linguistics and Onomastics)" by Aleksandar Donski, celebrity "historian"-propagandist from FYROM.

Dadas / Δάδας & Dada / Δάδα

The Prodromos Hellenikes Bibliothekes / Πρόδρομος Ελληνικής Βιβλιοθήκης, "A Forerunner to a Greek Library", published in Paris in 1805, was a literary collection of works by three ancient writers whom the editor considered as introductory to the corpus of the ancient classics. The editor and publisher was Adamantios Koraes, (Αδαμάντιος Κοραής, 1748–1833) a Greek humanist scholar and medical doctor and an active supporter of the French revolution. As a man of the Age of Enlightenment, who was in constant correspondence with the greatest liberal minds of his era He was in constant correspondence with Thomas Jefferson, for example), Koraes tirelessly worked for the liberation of Greece from the yoke of Ottoman slavery and for the education of young Greeks everywhere. His influence in the formation of the literrary modern Greek language has been compared to that of Dante for Italian or Martin Luther for the German language. Koraes believed in the power of education in liberating the minds of individual people and collectively their nations and convinced many wealthy expatriate Greeks to finance the publishing of books in the Greek language to be used in Greek schools in occupied Greece and abroad. The Prodromos Hellenikes Bibliothekes was one such case. In Koraes' Prodromos we find the short story of a Cretan woman named Dada, as relayed by Nikolaos Damaskenos / Νικόλαος Δαμασκηνός in his Ιστορίαι/Stories:

Ὀτι Σκάμανδρος ό βασιλεύσας πρώτος των Τρώων, Σάμωνι χρησάμενος συνεργώ, τους εν τή Τρωάδι ἐνίκησεν. ἀποθανόντος δε Σάμωνος κατά την μάχην, την γυναίκα αυτού Δάδαν [Dadan] μητέρα των νεανίσκων, εἰς το Πόλιον εξέπεμψε διά κήρυκος, ὠς ἀν έκεί συνοικήσειεν ότω βούληται. Ὀ δε κήρυξ κατά την όδόν βιασάμινος αὐτήν ήσχυνεν. Ἠ δε, το ξίφος έχουσα το του ἀνδρός, αὐτήν διεχρήσατο. Αίσθόμενοι δε οί Κρήτες τον κήρυκα κατέλευσαν, ένθα ό χώρος Ἀναίδειας ὠνομάσθη.

Dada's story was retold (using almost to the word Damaskenos' narrative) in French and then translated into English in the "Dictionary of Classical Mythology", by Pierre Grimal (Willey-Blackwell Publishing, 1990):

Dada/Δάδα

"The wife of the Cretan hero Samon, who helped Scamander take possession of the Troad. After Samon's death in battle Dada entrusted herself to a herald, asking him to accompany her to a nearby city, where she intended to remarry. On the way the herald violated her and, overcome with shame, Dada ran herself through with her dead husband's sword. When the Cretans became learnt of this tragic event they stoned the herald to death at the very place where he had carried out his rape; the place became known thereafter as the Field of Shamelessness."

This is an ancient Greek myth connecting a Greek woman from Crete named Dada and events on the island of Crete with Skamandros, the mythical king of the city of Troy, on the Asiatic shore of the Aegean Sea, by the Hellespont. The name Dada/Δάδα and her male equivalent Dadas/Δάδας are names that are found throughout the Greek speaking word, and not only in Macedonia, as professor Aleksandar Donsky implies. They happen to be far more widespread and popular in Ionia, and the rest of Hellenic Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey. Searching through the epigraphic record, we looked for the name Dadas and Dada, and their derivatives and other names derived from the same toot, and what we found is a rather disproportionate distribution:

We begin with Asia Minor:

45 mentions of Dadas or Dada

8 mentions of Dadouchos/Δαδούχος

2 mentions of Adados/Ἀδαδος

1 mention of Theudados/Θευδᾶδος (Θευδᾶδος is Ionian and Dorian for:

Theodados/Θεο-δᾶδος. Θευ-= Θεο-=Theo-).

1 mention of Νεικάδαδος/Neikadados.

Below is an example on an inscription from Galatia, close to the modern Turkish capital Ankara:

Regions : Asia Minor : Galatia

Strubbe, Cat. Pessinus 45

Gal., N. — Pessinous: Sivrihisar — AEMÖ 7.1883.182,56

Δαδα Ἀλεξάνδρῳ ἀνδ-

ρὶ κὲ Δίῳ υἱῷ μνήμης χάριν.

Dada to Alexandros her husband

and to Dion her son, in memory's favor.

Another example from Phrygia, found not far from the first one:

Regions : Asia Minor : Phrygia

MAMA 5 Lists Note:188,1[2/5]

Phryg. — Dorylaion (Eskişehir), W. of: Inönü — MDAI(A) 25.1900.417,28 w/470

ἀγαθῇ τύχῃ.

Διὶ Βροντῶντι ἐπη-

κόῳ θεῷ Δαδᾶς/Dadas Δαμᾶ

σὺν τοῖς τέκνοις Ὀ-

νησίμῳ καὶ Διομᾶ

καὶ Χρυσίῳ ὑπὲρ τῶν

ἰ]δίων εὐχὴν ἀνέστησαν

In benevolent Fortune

To Zeus the Thundering one

the god who listens (epecoos), Dadas son of Damas

along with his children O-

nesimos and Diomas

and Chrysios, praying on their

own behalf they raised this

Next we look at inscriptions at the North Shore of the Black Sea:

We find

38 mentions of Dadas/Δάδας or Dada/Δάδα

2 mentions of Dadaios/Δαδαίος

4 mentions of Dadagos /Δάδαγος

4 mentions of Dadakos /Δάδακος

Example of a Greek inscription from the Greek city of Ερμόνασσα/Ηermonassa, modern Tmutarakan (Тмутаракань) by the Cimmerian Bosporus,in Russia, a city strategically located by the entry from the Euxine Pontus into the Sea of Azov.

Regions : North Shore of the Black Sea

CIRB 1054

N. Black Sea — Hermonassa (Taman ) — 123-133 AD — IosPE IV 421

βασιλεύοντος βασι]-

λέως [Τιβερίου Ἰουλίου]

Κότυος υἱ[οῦ βασιλέως]

Σαυρομάτου, [φιλοκαίσα]-

ρος καὶ φιλορωμαίου,

εὐσεβοῦς, ἡ σύνο-

δος ἡ περὶ νακόρον

Βάγην Σωσιπάτρου,

καὶ ἱρ̣έα Στράτωνα

Ὀν̣[ησιδ?]ώ̣ρου καὶ ἱερομά-

στορα Ἀπολλώνιον Χρυ-

σαλίσκου καὶ γραμμα-

τέα Ἀγαθοῦν Πολεμοκρά-

του καὶ φιλάγαθον Μυρεῖ-

νον β καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ θιασεῖτ[αι]·

Καλοῦς Μυρείνου

Μέγης Μηνᾶ

Δημοκράτης Δάδα/Dada

Ἀρισταγόρας Ἀγαθοῦ

Δάδας [Dadas] Ἀπολλωνί[ου]

etc

During the royal rule of

king Tiberios Ioulios

Kotys son of king

Sautomates, who is philocaesar,

philoroman, and

pious, the council surrounding

the president of the temple:

Bages son of Sosistratos

and priest Straton son of

Onesidoros and holy

official Apollonios son of

Chrysaliskos and secre-

tary Agathon son of Polemo-

krates and the well meaning Myrei-

nos and the rest of the (Bacchic) thiasos members:

Kalous son of Myreinos

Meges son of Menas

Democrates son of Dadas

Aristagoras son of Agathos

Dadas son of Apollonios

etc

Next we look at occurrences of these names in Thrace and Lower Danube:

19 mentions of Dadas/Δάδας or Dada /Δάδα.

1 mention of Dadoparenos/Δαδοπαρηνός.

1 mention of Dados/Δαδος.

The first examples is from ancient Οδησσός/Odessus, by modern Varna (not to be confused with Odessa of Ukraine, further north):

IGBulg 286

Thrace and Moesia Inferior

Odessus (Varna) — Galata

above relief.1

Ἥρωι Καραβασ]μῳ

below relief.2

Ἀγαθήνωρ Πόσσειος ὁ

καὶ Δαδας/Dadas εὐχαριστήριον

κατ´ εὐχὴν τοῦ πατρός.

Agathenor Poseios also

known as Dadas, thanks offering

according to the wish of his father

The second example is from Byzantium/Βυζάντιον/Constantinople, modern Istanbul:

IK Byzantion 234

Thrace and Moesia Inferior

Thrace — Byzantion (Istanbul) — 2nd c. BC (Fir.)

Firatli-Robert (Annexe) 230 — SEG 24.721

Χρηστὴ Δ̣α̣δα/Dada, Δα̣[δας]/Dadas

Ἀπολλωνίου.

Chreste daughter of Dadas, Dadas

son of Apollonios

We now move to the Aegean Islands:

Here we have

5 mentions of Dadas/Δάδας

3 mentions of Dadamas/Δαδἀμας

Below is a well published example from the island of Lesbos:

Regions : Aegean Islands, incl. Crete (IG XI-[XIII]) :

Lesbos, Nesos, and Tenedos (IG XII,2)

IG XII,2 222

Lesbos — Mytilene

from the base of a statue:

ὀ δᾶμος

Δάδαν/Dadan Δίη, γύναικα δὲ Λεσβώνακτος

τῶ Ποτάμωνος, ἰρεύσαισαν Ἐτηφίλα

κάλως καὶ εὐσεβέως καὶ ἀποκατάσται-

σαν τὰ ἶρα, ἀρέτας ἔννεκα καὶ εὐ-

νοίας τᾶς εἰς αὖτον.

the people

To Dada daughter of Dies, and also wife of Lesbonax

son of Potamon, who has been priestess of Etephila

in a good and pious way and was instrumental in

reconstituting the Ira, due to her virtue and her

good will towards them, the people.

Incidentally, this same Dada, whose Roman citizen's name was Claudia, was later honored by the Mytilinean demos with a second statue. She was the daughter of Dies/Δίης, sister of Philon and wife of Lesboanax/Λεσβώναξ (yes, indeed, his name means "king of the Lesbians", and no, we should not get over-excited: it merely refers to the inhabitants of the Greek island of Lesbos).

The base of the second statue preserves the following commendation:

Κλαυδίαν Δα[δα?]/Dada

ἠροίναν Γαίω[---]

τὠ εὐεργέτα πα[ίδα].

To Klaudia Da[da?]

a heroine to Gaio[---]

to the benefactor child.

Now we search for the same names in northern Greece, in Macedonia:

We locate

2 mentions of the name Dadas/Δάδας

1 mention of the name Dadouchos/Δαδοῦχος.

1 mention of Dados/Δάδος

Examples:

EKM 1. Beroia 181

Macedonia : Bottiaia: Beroia

Διογένης Βαρναίου ἥρως

Δάδα/Dada ἡ[ρ]ώ̣ισσα.

Diogenes son of Barnaios, a hero

Dada, a heroine

Another example comes in the form of a small inscription stamped on a clay vessel, an amphora, originating in the SE Aegean island of Cos:

SEG 48:832,3

Macedonia : Bottiaia: Pella, Unpublished Coan amphora stamp

naming eponym Δάδας : Dadas

A third inscription from Macedonia, concerning the sale of a house:

Regions : Northern Greece (IG X) : Macedonia

Meletemata 22, Epig. App. 91 Meletemata 22, Epig. App. 90 Meletemata 22, Epig. App. 92

Makedonia (Edonis) — Amphipolis — 3rd c. BC — SEG 24.584

ἀγαθῆι τύ[χηι]. ἐφ´ ἱερέως Αἰσχύλου, ἐπισ̣-

τάτου δὲ Κλεάνδρου, μηνὸς Δίου. Κίσσο-

ς Ἑκαταίου ἐπρίατο παρὰ Σωσικράτους τοῦ Ἀ-

νδρονίκου τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ τὸ οἰκόπεδον τὸ

προσόν, ἧι γείτονες Ἀντίγονος Μαχάτα,

Νίκανδρος Λεωνίδου, χρυσῶν ἑδομήκ̣-

οντα τριῶν. βεβαιωταὶ Μαχάτας Ἀνδρονί-

κ]ου, Καλλίστρατος Δάδου, Νύμφων Ξεν-

οφῶντος καὶ αὐτὸς Σωσικράτης. μάρτυρ-

ε]ς Νέων Ἰχναίου, Ἀ̣σ̣τιδ̣ί̣ης Ἀντιδότου.

In Good fortune. During the time of priest Aeschylos when

president was Cleandros, in the month of Dios, Kissos

son of Hekataios took possession from Sosikrates son of An-

dronikos of the house and the land plot

adjacent to the properties of the neighbors Antigonos son of Machatas,

and Nikandros son of Leonides, for seventy

three gold (coins). Verifyiers: Machatas son of Andro-

nikos, Kallistratos son of Dados/Δάδος, Nymphon son of Xeno-

phon and Sosikrates himself. Witnes-

ses Neon son of Ichnaios and Astides son of Antidotos.


In Egypt of the Ptolemies we find:

2 mentions of the name Dadas/Δάδας

1 mention of the name Dadouchos/Δαδοῦχος.

1 mention of the name Dadouchios/Δαδοῦχιος.

Example of an inscription:

Regions : Egypt, Nubia and Cyrenaïca : Egypt and Nubia

Syringes 693

Eg. — Thebes [W.]: Syringes

Δαδᾶς/Dadas Ζ̣ιπύρου

Θρᾶϊξ,

Νίκανδρος Ζ̣ένωνος

Σελγεὺς ἥκω,

ἐπ´ ἀγα-

θῷ,

εὐτυχῖτε {εὐτυχεῖτε}.

Dadas son of Zipyros

a Thracian

Nikandros son of Zenon

who came from Selgia

for goodness, well

being.

Joy to you!

In Central Greece:

2 mentions of the name Dada/Δάδα

Example from Thessaly, from a marble-inscribed declaration of freeing of slaves, mentioning a freed woman named Dada:

IG IX,2 324

Thessaly (IG IX,2): Hestiaiotis: Aiginion (Kalambaka)

στρατηγοῦντος Ἀσκλάπωνος μηνὸ[ς]

Ἑ]ρμαίου τρίτῃ· αἱ ἀπελευθερωθῖσαι ἀ-

π̣ὸ Ἀντικράτους τοῦ Νικάνορος καὶ Ἀ-

φθ]οννῶς τῆς Λαχάρου Δ[ά]δα / Dada [κα]ὶ Κ[—]-

Ι̣ραὶς ἡ θυ[γάτ]ηρ άδας/ D

— — — — — — οἱ ἀπελ]ευθερωθέντες

While Strategos was Asclapon on the month

Hermaios, the third day; the freed by

Antikrates the son of Nikanoc and aph-

thono daughter of Lacharos, Dada and K[—]-

Irais the daughter of Dada.

— — — — — — the freed slaves...

In Syria, Arabia and Masopotamia we had to be especially carefull in selecting names, since Babylonian, Persian and numerous other non-Greek names appear which sound similar to but are not related to the Greek Dadas. We only chose the ones which are indisputably Greek:

1 mention of Dadados/Δάδαδος

1 mention of the name Das/Δας (genitive: Dados/Δαδός)

1 mention of the name Dadaia/Δαδαία

Example from Arabia:

Regions : Greater Syria and the East : Arabia

PPUAES IIIA 5,651^1

Syria, S./Arabia-Hauran—Inkhil

σῆ[μα] τόδε

γαμετῇ τεκτή-

ν]ατο Δαδος / Dados

ἥτις ἄγαν πι-

ν]υτὴ δο[ύλη]

πο[λ]υήρατο-

ς ο̣ὖσ ̣, ἵλα̣-

ος(?)

here is the tomb

built for the married woman

named Das

who was always

wise, a much de-

sired slave

and a joyous

one

In Attica/Athens there are countless mentions of the word/atribute dadouchos, due to the Eleusinian and Panathenian festivals and their torch relays, but we only chose this word (Dadouchos / Δαδούχος) only when used as a person's name. Therefore, in Athens we have:

1 mention of the name Dadates/Δαδάτης

1 mention of the name Dada/Δάδα.

30 mentions of the name Dadouchos/Δαδοῦχος.

2 mentions of the name Dados/Δάδος

Example:

Regions : Attica (IG I-III) : Attica

IG II² 11032

Att. — Athens: Akr. — s I p

Κορνηλία

Δάδα / Dada

Cornelia

daughter of Dadas.

And also:

Regions : Attica (IG I-III) : Attica

IG II² 8944

Att. — Athens: Akr.

Εὐρυδίκη

Δάδου / Dadou

Ἰχναία.

Euridice

daughter of Dados

from Ichna

Italy:

1 mention of the name Dadouchis/Δαδουχίς

The inscription contains a very long list of Greek names (about five hundred), from a religious document from a temple in the city of Rome.

IGUR I 160

Italy, incl. Magna Graecia

Italia — Roma: Torre Nova, area of — ca. mid. 2nd c. AD — cf. IGUR IV, p. 148, 160

οἱ ὑπογεγραμμένοι

Μακ]ρεῖνος ἥρως

Κεθ]ηγίλλα δᾳδοῦχος/dadouchos (a torchbearer, as a function not as a name)

ἱερεῖς

Γ]α̣λλικανός

Γ̣αλλικανός

Μακρεῖνος

Ὄρφιτος

Γλύκερος

Πτέρων

Καικιλία

Δύναμις

Φιλήτη

Ἐπίκτητος

Δαδουχίς/Dadouchis

Ροῦφα

Μουσική

Φοῖβος

the undersigned

Mak]reinos hero

Keth]egilla a torch bearer (δᾳδοῦχος/dadouchos)

the priests

Gallikanos

Gallikanos

Makreinos

Orphitos

Glykeros

Pteron

Kaikilia

Dynamis

Philite

Epictetos

Dadouchis

Roufa

Mousike

Phoebos

Now that we have seen the name Dada and Dadas as well as many of similar names in related form, all derived from the same root, let us look at their meaning.

Let us start with Hesychios, the 5th century AD lexicographer, who saved for us thousands of unusual Greek words and words in various Greek dialects:

δᾷδα· λαμπάδα Dada: a torch

δᾷδας· λαμπηδόνας Dadas: torches (plural)

δᾷδες· λαμπάδες Dades: torches (plural)

δᾳδουχεῖ· λάμπει, φέγγει. φωτίζει. [φαίνει] verb: Dadouchei: it shines, lights up

δᾳδουχίας· λαμπαδηφορίας λυχναψίας. φωτισμοῦ Dadouchias: about torch bearing

δᾳδοῦχος· λυχνάπτης. [λαμπαδηφόρος] Dadouchos: torch bearer

δᾳδουχοῦνται· φαίνονται verb Dadouchountai: they are being lit, seen

δᾳδουχῶν· διαλάμπων. n φωτίζων Dadouchon: sparkling shiny, well lit

δαΐδες· λαμπάδες. g λύχνοι Daides: torches, lights (plural)

δαΐδων· λαμπάδων (Σ 492) Daidon: of torches

δᾳδῶχορ· λυχνία Dadochor: a night light

δαίς· πεύκη, λαμπάς Dais: pine, torch

δαίων· καίων S Daion: the burning one

δαίω· καίω ἐξάπτω vgAS verb Daio: to burn, to torch.

In the monumental work of the German Linguist Julius Pokorny's Indogermanisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch, which was published in 1959, we find the root / lemma:

" dāu-, dǝu-, dū̆- which means : "to burn". "

Pokorny connected this to:

"Old Indian dunṓti `burns (trans), afflicts', dūná- `burnt, afflicted', Pass. dūyatē `burns' (intr.), kaus. dāvayati `burns' (trans), dāvá-ḥ (with ablaut change davāḫḥ) `blaze', etc...as in δεδαυμένος[dedaumenos]". He continues further down:

"gr. Δαίω [daio] (*δᾰF-ι̯ω) `set on fire, inflame', Perf. δέδηε [dedëe]`be in flames, be on fire' (: Old Indian dudāva), participle δεδαυμένος [dedaumenos] (δαῦσαι[dausai] ἐκκαῦσαι Hes., ἐκδαβῇ[ekdave] ἐκκαυθῇ Λάκωνες Hes.), δάος n., δαΐς[dais], -ίδος f. `torch' (to ᾳ: von att. δᾱͅς[das], δᾱͅδός[dados] s. Schwyzer Gr. Gr. I 266), δᾱνός [dais] `easily ignitable = to dry' (*δαεινός from *δαFεσ-νός), δᾱλός `burning piece of wood' (*δαFελός = lakon. Δαβελός)[davelos];" and also:

"air. dōīm `singe, burn' (about air. dōīm `get, exert' see under deu̯(ǝ)-), Verbalnom. dōud = Old Indian davathu-ḥ `blaze, fire'; atūd `kindle, inflame' from *ad-douth, cymr. cynneu `kindle, inflame'".

In the much more recent work "The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo European world, by J.P.Mallory and D.Q. Adams (Oxford University Press, 2006), a more updated lema is shown in *dehau, meaning "kindle, burn". On page 123 we read:

"Getting a fire started may have been indicated by *dehau- "kindle, burn" with cognates in Celtic (e.g. OIr daud "burning"), Grk dai'o "kindle, burn", Skt Duno'ti "kindles, burns", and Tocharian (e.g. TochA twas- "kindle, ignite, light").

We look up some Sanskrit words in a Sanskrit-English dictionary freely available on the internet, and some words come up which are phonetically similar to the Greek dada and also etymologically related to it:

"DAH, I. P. (E. also A.) DAHA, burn, consume with fire ; cauterize ; destroy ; torment, agitate ; pj.be burned; be destroyed; be consumed with inward fire ; be tortured : pp. DAFFDHA, i/, v. ; cs. DAHAYA, cause to be burned; burn (tr.); DO.DIDHAKEHA, be about to burn or destroy ; intv. DANDAHITL, dan- dagdhi, DANDANYATE, burn or destroy completely ; "

And also:

"DAVA, m. (forest) conflagration; m. n. forest : -DAHANA, m. forest fire ; -Agni, m. fire of a burning forest; Tanala, iii. id."

"A Sanskrit-English dictionary", by Arthur Anthony Macdonell

Dava is a word that in Sanskrit is related to both wood and fire, but particularly in a forest fire. The meaning of the Greek word for dada is similarly related to a piece of wood on fire.

The word Dava-Agni-Davagni which indicates the fire of a burning forest could be of particular interest to us, since it has two familiar cognates: one in Greek (Sanskrit Dava – Greek Dada) and one for Latin (Sanskrit Agni - Latin Ignis [the Greek word agne/αγνή is also a cognate, although not an obvious one: agne=pure, purified – through fire). The English word "to ignite" is a cognate of the Sanskrit "agni", and the same word exists in Slavic too: ogni-ogonj-огонь=fire. The name Ignatius is derived from Ignis, for fire in Latin, and is therefore related to Agni; we will see it again, later on, so let us remember it, but it is interesting to see its Saskrit cognate here couple with Dada's Sanskrit cognate to form the Sanskrit forest-fight: "Davagni".

As it becomes very apparent by now that the Greek word dais/δαίς-dados/δαδός and the names Dada/Δάδα Dadas/Δάδας and their derivatives all relate to the act of "starting a fire", "setting wood ablaze", "igniting", and of course "torches" and "torch bearing".

They are all derived from the verb daio/δαίω (in original form *δαF-ίω), which means "to light up", "to kindle", "to set on fire", "to burn,". Passive form: Dedaumai/δέδαυμαι, I am being lit up, torched. Δαίς/dais, is also found as δάς/das, in genitive form δαδός/dados, which translates as "the torch". In ancient Greek we also have the words δαδούχος / dadouxos for "the one holding a torch", as in the torch bearers at the festival of Eleusinian Demetra, in Athens, and δαδοφόρος / dadophoros which also means "the torch bearer". The two associates of the Persian Mithra, the prophet of Zaroaster, whose cult spread throughout the Roman empire and competed with Christianity for dominance in Europe in the beginning of the first millennium, always followed Mithra each holding a torch in their hand, and they were called Dadophoroi/Δαδοφόροι. The verb describing their action (bearing a torch) is δαδοφορέω/dadophoreo : to bear a torche, as in festivals (Liddel & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon, page 365, 1951 reprint). Dadaphorios/Δαδαφόριος was also the name of the fifth month in the calendar of Delphi (roughly equivalent to today's January, the Macedonian Peritios/Περίτιος and the Athenian Gamelion/Γαμηλιών). Dadophorios took its name from of the annual torch-light festival Dadaphoria/Δαδαφόρια that was held on this month in Delphi. Δαδουχεω/dadouheo is a verb meaning "to be a torch", being a torch bearer. The image of the two Dadophoroi/torch bearers passing a dais/dados, a torch to one another, shown at the beginning of this article, is from an ancient Greek amphora. It is showing the passing of the torch in such an athletic contest help during a religious festival, a Dadophoreia, a torch relay.

In modern Greek, δάδα/dada still means the torch. A quick "image" search in the internet (using a "copy and paste" for those who cannot spell it in Greek) of the word δάδα will bring up countless images of torches; especially the Olympic torches of the torch relay around the world (from the site of ancient Olympia, in the Peloponnese, to the Olympic city of that year). Dada/δάδα is what the statue of Liberty in New York harbor is holding on her right hand (also called a pyrsos/πυρσός, from Pyr/πύρ for fire). Dadi/δαδι in modern Greek is the resin wood chip used to ignite a fireplace fire.

Professor Aleksandar Donski/Александар Донски, of Skopje, FYROM, in his futile attempt to establish a non-existing connection between the ancient Greek names Dada/Δάδα - Dadas/Δάδας to words in the jugo-Slavic language spoken in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, proclaims that "The noun "dada" in the present day Macedonian [sic] language means "older sister"". He obviously forgot to inform us as to how Δάδας/Dadas is related to his own "Дада"". And what about Dados, Dadouchos, Dadates, etc...how are these men related to the Slavomakedonian "older sister-Dada/Дада"? Consistency, it seems, is not a pre-qualification criterion for the good nationalistic propagandist.

Having by now been informed of the meaning of Dada in the "present day" language of the modern inhabitants of FYROM (ancient Paeonia and Dardania-not Macedonia), it is time to recall what Dada means in the "present day" languages of most other European nations: DADA: an anti-war, anti-establishment radical art movement of the WWI years (started in Zürich in 1916), which reverberates on and off till now (the Punk subculture owed much to Dada). Unfortunately, the European Dada, despite its obvious phonetic similarities, happens to have about as much connection to the ancient Greek Dada/Δάδα and Dadas/Δάδας as the pseudo-makedonka "older sister"-"Dada/Дада".

In conclusion, Dada/Δάδα and Dadas/Δάδας and other similarly derived names of the same linguistic root, have been attested in Greek Mythology and Greek History. The Hellenic epigraphjic record containes numerous inscriptions with these names, as clearly demonstrated above. Equally important is the fact that Dadas, Dada and related names were popular throughout the Greek-speaking word, and certainly not only in Macedonia. While there are only four mentions of the name Dada (and similar, related names) in Macedonia, there are about twenty one mentions of these same names in Thrace (in modern Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece), over fifty-five mentions of these same and related names in Asia Minor (now Turkey) and forty eight in the (predominantly Ionian) Greek colonies of the Euxinus Pontus (the Black Sea), Greek cities in what is now Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Russia. There were, as we showed above, ancient Greek inscriptions with the names Dada/Δάδα, Dadas/Δάδας, Dados/Δάδος etc found in other places in Greece, from Thessaly and Athens to Crete, Delos and Lesbos, but also in places as diverse and distant from each other as modern Syria, Mesopotamia-Iraq and Saudi Arabia, but also in Egypt and in Italy-Rome.

The common thread uniting these names is their "burning", "fire-igniting" and "torch"-related etymology:

Dadas/Δάδας, Dados/Δάδος, Dadaios/Δαδαίος, Dada/Δάδα: if they were Romans, instead of Greeks, with etymologically similar Latin names, they would have been named Inflammatus, Candelabrarius, Candela, or Ignatius: they too are "burning", "inflaming", "fire-igniting" and "torch" related names, like Dada/Δάδα and Dadas/Δάδας.